The original intention for the division of the scene was to use curtain fabric or a dark fabric fixed to the ceiling that would hang naturally. However, due to the lack of support from the ceiling, the space was divided up with a baffle and a bookcase instead.
We used scrap paper, paper tubes and red and white paint to create two giant mushrooms, and placed sweets and toys on the table to set the scene for the childhood phase.
Based on the production of videos that are more ‘abstract’, the sound design plays a supporting and enhancing role in the video content.
1. In some clips of graphic changes, the sound is distorted and shifted to reflect a sense of kneading. It is used in the childhood, death and old age stages.
2. superimposed on similar, identical sound elements to give a more layered and spatial feel to the sound (e.g. the car tracks in the death phase)
3. adding transitions to important text occurrences for emphasis
4. overlay important points with multiple sound elements, e.g. at the end of the death phase, use two explosions, glass breaking and low frequencies to create a powerful sense of explosion and enhance the end effect.
5.Ambient sounds are used to create atmosphere. For example, use the sound of rain to accentuate a quiet, melancholic atmosphere (as in the childhood phase). Or
the sound of burning flames to create a sense of domestic warmth, with the sound of burning flames made by kneading plastic paper to foley the sound. Or the sound of running water from a clear spring combined with the chirping
of birds in a natural forest to create a natural, happy atmosphere. (Family stage)
Before each choice in each scene, there is a voiceover.
For example, in childhood scenes, the voiceover is a child describing the problem.The voiceover is added to help the experiencer come up with some inspiration when facing difficult choices, and to tell them to perceive the smell in the environment. Since each scene represents a different age group, different VST plugins were used to process the sound during sound design, adjusting the EQ, pitch, and setting different sound layers to achieve the desired effect.To make the sound more interesting, different tones were used, such as whispering, to create a more immersive experience for the experiencer. In addition, some delays were also set to make the sound appear unexpectedly.
About the Video
I produced two videos of the youth stage, showing two very different youth periods according to my own understanding. However, I think the videos I produced lacked some sense of logic. Although the video makers in our group used mostly abstract elements, perhaps some concrete emotions could have been expressed in an abstract way. While leaving space for visitors to imagine, it can also play a guiding role.
About the Souvenir
The souvenir part was my responsibility with Xiaoyun. We made two separate versions of the stickers and due to the shortage of time, only one version was finally chosen as the final sticker. Perhaps the other version could have been used as a souvenir card or for other purposes rather than sitting around. This is a bit regrettable.
About Odor
Odor is a difficult factor to control. In the early stages, we focused too much on “what the different stages of life should smell like” and spent a lot of time researching scent ratios. But we didn’t consider how achievable it would be in the overall project. During Dave’s first experience, he didn’t think the scent factor was obvious enough, so when the final presentation was made, we were concerned that the scent wasn’t strong enough, so we made it very strong. However, due to a lack of experimentation and the lack of ventilation in the room, the smells were overpowering and the five scents blended together. They could not be distinguished by visitors and even detracted from the overall experience of the project due to the overpowering scents.
Odor is not like images or music, which the creator can produce and output according to his or her own ideas. The emanation of scent can be affected by the venue, temperature, and equipment and is more difficult to control than images and music. We did not think this through at the beginning of the project and did not experiment with it many times, which led to serious problems with the output of the scent.
About the Whole Project
Although the students in the group put in a lot of effort, the results were not equal to what we put in. In my opinion, the reason for this result was that we did not grasp the project focus accurately enough. Firstly, our group put a lot of effort into researching the sensor light and arranging the wires, but the light had a low presence and visitors could easily forget to press the button. It did not serve as a guide. Secondly, the focus of the project should not be on scent. It can be used as an entry point for the project to unfold and as one of the elements that add to the project, but not as the main body of the project. Perhaps we should spend more time looking at the visual aspects of the project. The visual presentation could also be made more interesting.
I think the starting point and inspiration for the whole project was creative, we tried to give the experiencer a close combination of scent, sound, image and scene. We realised a life stage experience showcase where the experiencer can go through and choose from the five life stages in their entirety. In the production part of the video, I made a video for each life stage separately. For example, there are two options for the childhood stage: happy and challenging. Most people who have a happy childhood have memories of toys, sweets and cakes. At the same time I noticed that when we are children we see the world from a naive point of view and the things we see are significantly bigger. Therefore, we enlarged the graphics of the elements and gave them bright and lively colours. Alternatively, there are some people who did not have such a good childhood. They may have been influenced by the background from their families and perhaps they would have been more mature and rational earlier. Therefore, in another childhood video I chose to reduce the saturation of the overall colour style, while designing special effects such as brokenness and cracks.
However, we also encountered a number of problems, for example, the numerous videos lacked associated commonality and narrative, and although we used many abstract elements, the emotional sense of the life stages we wished to convey was not sufficiently distinct. We did not control the mix of smells and the experience was affected by the lack of air circulation in the closed room. In the design part of the souvenir, we wanted people to be able to find their own life stage characteristics, but the images on the stickers were not linked closely enough to the visual video, which is something we would like to improve. In addition to this, the options offered as an interactive play experience may not have been intuitive and informative enough, which resulted in the exhibition not being interactive enough and lacking a certain level of interest. In conclusion, I think we should continue to improve and optimise it by testing it as many times as possible to observe and solve the problems that arise from the project.
看到这个用气味描绘人生阶段的展览的完成，韩景瑞感到非常惊讶和兴奋，这是我第一次参与这样一个主题和概念如此独特的项目。我很高兴看到我们的团队分工很成功，每个成员都贡献了自己的独特技能，创造了一个以气味代表人生阶段的展览，一个不仅有凝聚力而且影响深远的展览。
这个展览是真正的创新和身临其境，创造了一种与众不同的通感体验。充分利用我们的视觉、听觉和嗅觉，创造真正难忘的体验。展览的氛围给人一种时空感，每个展区都传递着不同的情感和体验，让参观者仿佛亲身体验人生的不同阶段。
但我们也遇到了很多问题，对我影响最大的是最初的愿望是在三月底选择 Fire station 关闭，这使得很难找到几个独立的小空间而不是一个大空间。这对场景构建和音乐气味之间的影响提出了新的要求。
The second was that at the beginning of the design we gave out questionnaires and conceived of five life themes. But then it became clear that each person would have their own choice, and that the choice would produce different results, which turned the workload for me, which was only five pieces of music, into 12 pieces of music. It was a big challenge, I had to do all the music in a very short time and in a variety of styles. I’m very proud of the work I’ve done! It makes me feel more confident to face the challenges of life in the future!
最后，由于设备和技术，以及气味的独特性，无法让更多的人参与到之前的计划中。气味散去也花了很多时间，这让最后的呈现有些不足。
以下是我在项目中的角色（在报告的最后一页）。
音乐部分
声音部分
拆除工作
In this DMSP project, the whole group of us put in a lot of hard work. I think what’s great about us is that we combine scents with life stages and give different life stages different colors and flavors. But the disadvantage is that the smell is not used as a carrier of memory, and it more clearly reflects the living conditions of a certain period of time. In the project, the smell is more as an embellishment, and the visual is more as the main body.
In the early brainstorming, we wanted to try to make people perceive the brevity of life through smell. I think in this project, we should have thought more about how to display and collect smells. We did not solve the original question: how to minimize the impact of odor mixing on visitors in a small space.
Due to site and technical constraints, we did not implement the draw mode using the M5 sensor in the last part. In the original vision, the interaction of the fifth scene is very interesting, because visitors can interact with the screen pattern by shaking the lottery box in their hands. When you shake the lottery ticket hard, the image will be clearer. When an extreme value is reached (the bamboo stick shakes out), the final state of the visitor’s life will be fixed. Although the above code has been verified to be feasible, unfortunately, due to the failure of the software and hardware docking, we did not realize this step in the final demonstration.
However, we finally tried to do it, and tried to make up for the shortcomings in more places, and I learned a lot of new knowledge. This is a success for me. In the process of group cooperation, I learned to solve problems and improved my ability to deal with conflicts. In the future, I will learn more about MAX related skills, and may use it in the final graduation project.
I am in charge of the production of one of the middle-aged videos. This stage is a middle-aged man with a successful career. At this stage, I chose a visual pattern that is constantly flowing and advancing, and a more obvious mature and stable element for the video. Whiskey shots, people walking, well-dressed businessmen…. The shots are interspersed with abstract, flowing patterns against dark backgrounds.
In the editing process, in order to better guide the visitors and provide them with a more personalized experience, I used more divergent and abstract visual patterns as the main body. According to the keywords summarized in the previous research, I emphasized the word positive as the main tone of this life stage video.
